As we draw near to the end of 1 Thessalonians, which by all accounts is one of Paul’s earliest letters, it becomes evident that the church was not some latter addition to the original Christian movement but was integral to it from the very beginning. As Paul concludes this letter, he gives instructions strongly suggesting that he had established the converts in that city as an organized church. He begins: “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (vv. 12-13).

This statement shows that Paul recognized official leaders among the believers in Thessalonica. Acts 14:23 shows that from the very beginning, Paul “appointed elders” in the churches he founded and invested them with authority by “committing them to the Lord.” It is clear from later letters that Paul and the other apostles institutionalized this practice. Apostolic churches such as the one in Thessalonica were organized under the spiritual leadership of a group of elders working together. Acts 20:4 mentions two Thessalonican men who likely were elders (“Aristarchus and Secundus”), and there were probably more.

Verse 12 identifies the work to which church leaders are called. Paul’s description applies to all elders, but especially to ministers in their full-time calling to the church: they “labor among you,” “are over you in the Lord,” and “admonish you.” First, Paul says that church leaders “labor among you.” Primarily, this statement notes the costly effort – even to the point of exhaustion – involved in providing spiritual leadership to the church. This description makes the point that pastors should be expected to work hard in service of the church. Whether it is study and the preparation of sermons, or visiting the sick and counseling the disturbed, or instructing people for baptism and marriage, or being diligent in intercession – these things demand that we “toil, striving with all energy which [Christ] mightily inspires within” us (Col. 1:29).

Second, Paul emphasizes that church leaders “are over in the Lord” (v. 12). Here, the Greek word proistemi conveys the idea of presiding over or having charge. In 1 Timothy 3:4, the same word has the idea of “manage,” and in 1 Timothy 5:17 of “rule.” Paul expressed a similar notion when he identified the eldership as “the office of overseer” (1 Tim. 3:1). Therefore, elders and pastors are authority figures in and over the church. It makes all the difference that Paul specifies the elders’ rule as being “in the Lord” (v. 12). Their pastoral authority comes from Christ and must be wielded on His behalf and in His name. It is essential that Christian leaders demonstrate that their authority is “in the Lord” by always explaining the biblical basis or logic behind actions that are taken.

Third, Paul says that church leaders are called to “admonish” (v. 12). Here, the Greek word noutheteo means to “rebuke” or “correct.” This not a harsh exercise of judgment, but a loving admonition of believers who are going astray in either doctrine or life. We gain a flavor for the style of reproof required of elders when we see in Paul’s letters both a forthright boldness and a tender mildness in dealing with the wayward.

One of the most important applications that we can make from Paul’s teaching on church leaders is to realize that it entails a mandate for church membership. If the Lord has placed leaders over the church and called them to the triple function of laboring, ruling, and admonishing, then it follows that the Lord’s people are to be organized in churches under this very kind of spiritual leadership.

Some people ask the question, “Why should I join the church?” There are a number of good answers. One is that God has organized human society in covenantal relationships, and Christians are to bond together as a covenant people in the Lord. This points to the analogy of the church as a family, with its associations of affection, loyalty, and commitment. Another reason why church membership is essential is our calling together to the work of the Lord. Jesus’ Great Commission charges us not merely to make casual believers or fickle spiritual consumers. Instead, Jesus gave His followers a commission that can be fulfilled only in the context of a faithful church (Matt. 28:19-20).

In verse 5:13, Paul adds a word about the importance of Christians’ support and encouragement of pastors and elders. This charge has three components, the first of which is to appreciate and respect church leaders. Paul began verse 121 this way: “We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you.” The word respect is the Greek word know and involves the ideas of both personal acquaintance and acknowledgment.

In verse 13 Paul adds a charge for Christians “to esteem them very highly,” the idea being that a special honor due to the holy office of the minister and elder. It is this biblical mandate that has prompted ordained ministers to receive the title Reverend, in keeping with Paul’s emphasis in 1 Timothy 5:17: “Let the elders rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.” The issue is not the granting of social prestige, still less of celebrity status, but rather the spiritual submission to biblical authority that will enable the pastor to fulfill his God-given role in the lives of Christ’s people.

In addition to respect, Paul would have Christians grant loving affection to their spiritual leaders: “Esteem them very highly in love because of their work” (v. 13). A faithful pastor labors intensely and prayerfully for the spiritual well-being of his flock; one of the chief blessings that compensates for the trials is the loving appreciation and affection of the people. This loving esteem includes providing generously for their material needs and praying for God to protect and bless their ministry.

Finally, church members support their pastors and elders by placing a priority on the peace and unity of the church: “Be at peace among yourselves” (v. 13). Few things distract and discourage a pastor more greatly than when church members level needless complaints against fellow believers or disturb the church with quarrels and strife. Being peaceable also implies a willing support of decisions made by church leaders.

Everything that Paul has taught about church leadership and membership must be applied in careful biblical balance. Leaders are to oversee, not dominate or stifle. Authority is to be “in the Lord” and not in the flesh. Church members are to respect but not to worship their pastors. Christians are to obey and follow their leaders, but leaders are to teach and make decisions in keeping with Scripture. Members are to love church leaders not so much for their gifts – which may result in division or favoritism – but for their work on Christ’s behalf. This need for balance and the difficulty or achieving it ought to persuade every Christian of the great need that we have for prayer, both for ourselves and for the church to which we belong.

Yet no matter how poorly we may succeed in achieving the biblical standard of church leadership and membership, we should never hate but always love the church. In response to our relationship through faith with Jesus Himself, Christians should treasure the church, pray for the church, and bind together in the church for the worship and work that is designed by God to bring glory to Christ and the gospel of salvation to the world.

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 Study Questions:

As with learning a new language, the grammar is the starting point, but the ideal is to reach a point where one does not even need to think about the grammar or the construction of sentences. This is the point of fluency, and it is the same as learning the new language of Christian behavior. The ideal is that believers should have the new language of Christian behavior written on their hearts. How are we to relate to Christian leaders as we learn fluency in the new language of behavior for believers (vv. 12-13)?

Paul urges Christians to put on the hope of salvation like a helmet to crown and protect the head (v. 8). But what is the true ground of assurance of salvation? Paul points his struggling friends to the gospel truths that he had preached to them: salvation from sin, salvation to new life, and salvation by God’s sovereign grace. He writes, “For God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we might live with him” (vv. 9-10).

According to Paul, his readers should look with confidence to the return of Christ because they had been saved from sin: “For God has not destined us for wrath” (v. 9). In saying this, the apostle makes the important assumption that punishment for sin is the chief threat to our eternal well-being. The gospel that Paul preached, therefore, and that we should believe and preach today, is a gospel of salvation from the ruinous effects of sin.

In particular, Paul considers salvation from sin in terms of deliverance from the wrath of God. Our problem, he indicates, is not merely that sin harms us but that God will punish us in anger for our sins against His law. This being the problem, Paul’s good news to believers in Jesus is that “God has not destined us for wrath.” The question may be raised as to how a holy God delivers sinners from His wrath. Paul answers that believers “obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us” (vv. 9-10). Christians are saved from God’s wrath because Jesus “died for us.”

In these words, we hear the heart of Paul’s gospel: “Jesus…died for us.” The us that Paul refers to is believers in Christ, who have confessed the guilt of their sin and sought forgiveness by trusting Christ’s death. Paul speaks of Christ’s death in a way that implies penal substitutionary atonement – the evangelical doctrine that Jesus died in our place to pay the penalty for our sins. The apostle teaches that Jesus’ death had the effect of saving us from God’s wrath. We are not saved simply by having our hearts warmed by a demonstration of God’s love or by receiving an inspiring example to follow. Jesus died to save us from God’s wrath, substituting Himself as a sacrifice in our place.

Paul’s point in the context of our passage is that his readers should not fear the return of Jesus and the final judgment He will bring, since Christians have been saved from God’s wrath by Jesus’ sin-atoning death on the cross. Christ’s people, for whom He died, will not be destroyed in His coming but will be saved to the uttermost. Christ’s second coming will consummate the salvation He purchased in His first coming at such great cost to Himself. As Paul sees it, therefore, joyful Christians – those who are most assured of salvation and who most eagerly await Christ’s return – are those most willing to see the truth of their sin so as to be most fervently reliant on the finished work of Christ’s death.

Looking away from ourselves to Jesus does not mean, however, that Christ does nothing within us in salvation. According to Paul, the same gospel that delivers us from the wrath also saves us to a new life: He “died for us so that…we might live with him” (v. 10). The words so that express a purpose clause: Jesus’ death had a purpose not only to delivering us from wrath but also enabling us to live for and with Him. Paul expanded the same idea in 2 Corinthians 5:15: “He died…, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”

According to the Bible, the Christian’s new life begins at the moment of faith and salvation. Paul said that “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come” (2 Cor. 5:17). As reborn believers, we are to pursue godliness and good works in keeping with our discipleship to Christ. Having been saved by grace and through faith, apart from works, we realize that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2:10).

Paul has emphasized dual aspects of salvation in 1 Thessalonians. In 5:9, he highlighted our salvation from God’s wrath – this is justification. In 4:3, he stated that “this is the will of God, your sanctification.” Therefore, to be saved is both to be justified – forgiven and accounted righteous in God’s sight for Jesus’ sake – and to be sanctified – increasingly transformed by God’s grace – through our union with Christ in faith. This is Paul’s point: Jesus “died for us” so that “we might live with him” (v. 5:10). These two connections – “for us” and “with him” – make up Christian salvation, through union with Christ in faith.

In encouraging his readers about their hope in Christ, Paul further appeals to the sovereignty of God. Believers can be sure of their salvation because “God has not destined us for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 9). The believer’s salvation ultimately rests not in time but in eternity, when God has destined – elsewhere, he will specify “predestined” (Rom. 8:29-30; Eph. 1:5) – His people to be saved.

The Bible teaches that the whole of our salvation rests on the saving decree of God in eternity past. According to Scripture, God did not simply ordain that those who believe will be saved, but selected persons for Himself, sending His Son to die for their sins and then sovereignly bringing them to faith so that they receive eternal life. Paul proclaimed in Ephesians 1:4 that God “chose us in [Christ] before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him.” God chose not merely the way of salvation in principle but actual people to be saved: “He predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will” (Eph. 1:5).

The sovereignty of God is not limited to the predestination of His people to come to faith for salvation. God is also sovereign in the perseverance of believers, so that we continue in faith until death or the return of Christ. Here is the concern pressing on the Thessalonians’ minds: would life or death find them ready of Jesus’ coming? Paul answers that since they believe in Jesus, they can trust that “God has not destined” them “for wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 9).

Paul acknowledges here the necessity of trusting in Christ for salvation. We “obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,” that is, through faith in Him. Yet this requirement for faith does not throw us back onto our own resources and strength, so that, we would nervously sweat the return of Jesus, wondering whether we will measure up. Rather, the God who was sovereign in ordaining our salvation through faith is also sovereign in maintaining our salvation through faith. Peter wrote that “by God’s power [we] are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:5). Yes, perseverance is “through faith,” so that Christians must continue believing in Jesus. Yet through faith we “are being guarded” by a sovereign God who has committed Himself to our salvation in the return of Christ.

In his brief by potent application, Paul tells us that God’s purpose should become the basis of our ministry in the church: “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (v. 11). We see in Paul’s exhortation a threefold agenda in response to the saving message of God’s salvation in Christ. First, we must receive the gospel in personal faith. This is clear in verse 9, where Paul says that we are destined “to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.” Second, having received salvation, we continue to serve God’s purpose by encouraging one another with words of gospel truth. The idea is coming alongside those in weakness, difficulty, or doubt so as to help one another to continue in faith. Third, when Paul speaks of exhorting others so as to build them up, this implies that Christians are to be growing spiritually. We are not to be like the tribes of Israel when they settled into the Promised Land of Canaan. When Paul uses the phrase “just as you are doing” (v. 11), he acknowledges that his readers had started well in encouraging one another to Christian growth.

When we work Paul’s approach to being joyfully ready for Christ’s return, we cultivate a joyful assurance and hope by looking in faith to the cross, by responding to faith with good works and obedience, and then by taking part in the body of God’s people, in the family, the church and the world, building up one another with God’s Word of truth, the same gospel message by which we received salvation “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (v. 9).

1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 Study Questions:

The Thessalonians were already children of the day, children of light. God’s new world had broken in upon the sad, sleepy, drunken and deadly world. In verse 11 Paul encourages the Thessalonians to continue to “strengthen one another, and build each other up.” In what practical ways can the community of believers you are part of encourage each other to live out verses 8-11?

What is the true ground of assurance of salvation?

What are the dual aspects of salvation?